The Road Bumps of Democracy
I have been spending a lot of time on Capitol Hill. For the past five weeks my job has required my presence about twice a week for spans of 2-7 hours. I am partially paid to convince people I know a lot about Capitol Hill, which I guess do a pretty good job of because know seems to notice I don’t know a lot that isn’t in a high school government textbook or the Washington Post.
What I remember most about this recent stint is trying to figure out what was going on when I visited the Senate gallery and heard what seriously the worst ‘debate’ ever. One Democrat and one Republican were debating and Elizabeth Dole was overseeing the chamber as they discussed the Highway bill. The Republican was seriously trying to argue that this bill was the most important bill in decades (war be damned we need highways) and the Democrat was pumped up about naming a highway after a recently deceased member of the Senate. It got worse when the Republican interrupted the Democrat to tell him the deceased member of congress was from his home state. Libby Dole earned a lot of credit from me that day because god knows I couldn’t have looked as concerned and alert as she did listening to that drivel.
The reason why neither of them was really talking about the bill is because the Highway bill is the kind of federal spending monster that no one completely understands and worse no one wants to pay for. In fact the primary goal is to be a state like South Dakota that gets four dollars of spending for every dollar paid in federal highway taxes.
I was actually spending a lot of time around Capitol Hill the week we went to war with Iraq and although it was definitely on everyone’s mind it is hard imagine that the members and their staff’s spent nearly as much time thinking about the war as the spent working on the highway bill.
If you don’t believe me, consider this Congressional Quarterly lead from Thursday:
“Brushing aside a veto threat, the Senate voted to limit debate on its $318 billion highway and mass transit reauthorization bill.” They got 86 votes to shut up and pass the damn bill with or without Bush’s approval. I would have a lot of respect for Bush if he vetoed this bill because it is just the kind of bill they would seriously consider overriding.
They will probably come to some sort of compromise, like agreeing to wait till after the election to fight it out or Bush will just sign it, even though it is about likely to at least 50 billion dollars more then he said wanted.
Congress has many facets I don’t understand; I never worked directly on the hill or covered it for a newspaper. That said it I think if Congress had to give up control of Iraq funding or highway funding I am not sure which would go. Five weeks ago I would have thought it was a stupid question, maybe it still is.
When I watched Tom Daschle answer questions about what he was doing for South Dakota and then walk off to cast a vote to end debate on the highway bill last Wednesday it was hard not feel my wallet getting a little lighter and my ride home a little bumpier, but hey if my car doesn’t rattle apart on Pennsylvania Avenue I might want to check Mount Rushmore.
(P.S. check Daschle’s website for list of stuff he added to the bill.)
